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Lot Essay
These seven paintings belong to a mandala set used in initiations and consecrating temples. Initiation paintings are relatively small works used to facilitate private ceremonies in which a Buddhist teacher initiates a disciple into a particular set of tantric teachings, and more generally, in any ritual setting that requires small painted images of the Buddhist pantheon. Although this set of paintings is no longer complete, it is clear from the iconography of the surviving works that it was meant to serve as an introduction to a thirty-seven deity mandala. Depicted within this partial set are: Buddha Shakyamuni, White Manjushri, Virupaksha, Blue Jambhala, Red Jambhala, Vaishravaṇa and Dhṛtarashtra. Paintings such as these would also be hung across the front of a temple interior to demonstrate the presence of deities and as a part of the consecration materials of the temple.
Stylistically, the Newari-style facial features along with the dark outlining of the contour echoes the fourteenth and fifteenth century paintings of Kumbum Monastery in central Tibet. Motifs such as the hyper-stylized foliage behind the images of Manjushri, Maitreya, and the two Jambhalas are directly related to Newari schools of painting, while the lotus petals with gradient shading were popularized by the Mongol Yuan patronage of Newari artists. The treatment of the background in the three guardian-kings is of particular interest as the swirling cloud outlined with gold, popular in Ming Buddhist paintings, exemplifies the importation of Chinese motifs to an otherwise Newari style.
The technique, composition, and the visual vocabulary in this set shares close resemblance to a fourteenth-century group of initiation paintings published in Jane Casey’s article “Buddhist Initiation Paintings from the Yuan Court (1271-1368) in the Sino-Himalayan Style.” Further comparisons can be made with a partial set of Hayagriva initiation sets in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 2000.282.16). These paintings stand testament to a highly international Tibetan style that combines mid-fourteenth century Newari painting traditions with Chinese motifs.
Stylistically, the Newari-style facial features along with the dark outlining of the contour echoes the fourteenth and fifteenth century paintings of Kumbum Monastery in central Tibet. Motifs such as the hyper-stylized foliage behind the images of Manjushri, Maitreya, and the two Jambhalas are directly related to Newari schools of painting, while the lotus petals with gradient shading were popularized by the Mongol Yuan patronage of Newari artists. The treatment of the background in the three guardian-kings is of particular interest as the swirling cloud outlined with gold, popular in Ming Buddhist paintings, exemplifies the importation of Chinese motifs to an otherwise Newari style.
The technique, composition, and the visual vocabulary in this set shares close resemblance to a fourteenth-century group of initiation paintings published in Jane Casey’s article “Buddhist Initiation Paintings from the Yuan Court (1271-1368) in the Sino-Himalayan Style.” Further comparisons can be made with a partial set of Hayagriva initiation sets in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 2000.282.16). These paintings stand testament to a highly international Tibetan style that combines mid-fourteenth century Newari painting traditions with Chinese motifs.